Magic Lantern has unlocked RAW video recording in the Canon EOS 5D Mark III. From early reports the quality of the video files is pretty amazing and might be better than the C300 and definitely better than the BlackMagic Cinema Camera.

Definitely a potential game changer for some narrative work, and people doing really short clips. But anyone doing event work (weddings, etc) wouldnt really be able to use it. I remember how mad people were at the 4GB limit (which meant 12mins or so); no way they'd settle for 700 frames.

But, since I'm one of the people who records short clips, I'd love this capability in my 60D, even if its for 10-15s

As the linked article says, the world just turned on its head. To have a 5D3 outdo the much more expensive C300 is insane. I still can't wrap my head around it. I was planning to buy a C100, but this has changed everything.

Definitely a potential game changer for some narrative work, and people doing really short clips. But anyone doing event work (weddings, etc) wouldnt really be able to use it. I remember how mad people were at the 4GB limit (which meant 12mins or so); no way they'd settle for 700 frames.

But, since I'm one of the people who records short clips, I'd love this capability in my 60D, even if its for 10-15s

The thing to remember is this is still in early stages.

They are already working on continuous shooting.The other issue there is the size and costs of the 1000x and 1066x cards. I wonder if or when they get the HDMI out working as well, you could hook it up to an Ninja 2 and basically have no need for space or card issues?

I think a raw shooting DSLR is a very different beast to the C100 / C300, and to be honest I don't think many pros will be making the switch.

I wouldn't yet turn up to a pressured commercial shoot with a hack and raw though - asking for problems.

At the moment raw isn't practical for most projects where practicality / routine reliability comes ahead of image quality / art. The C100 is a very different camera to the 5D Mark III ergonomically and that more so than image quality is why pros love it so much. The broadcast ready codec on the C300 is also a big thing and raw is not a broadcast acquisition format because you cannot edit it fast or just drop it into the BBCs news workflow! The amount of data it generates is phenomenal.

I think the Blackmagic Cinema Camera now has a stern rival, but the Cinema EOS stuff plays in a different part of the park.

I won't be shooting my own short film / music videos on C300 now I have this on the 5D Mark III though. I am an image quality junkie and that matters more to me than the practicalities of getting it working smoothly, and delivering a quick commercial project.

This is all beautiful, and I'm very happy for 5DMarkIII owners, but... what about Canon 1Dx Double with price, and still with no Canon or ML firmware to some major upgrade in video for our expensive camera!?Now, 5DMarkIII will have better video capabilities, better picture in video, raw video recording... and 1Dx - NO !Great, just great... that's why 1Dx cost more than 2 x 5DMarkIII so we could have less quality for double the price.Wonderful... beautiful... great...

and might be better than the C300 and definitely better than the BlackMagic Cinema Camera.

The BMCC still has more than a stop better DR (than the 5D3), and as of now, more resolution for continuous shooting. And while the c300 is a much easier camera to use, BMCC's best image blows the c300 out of the water.

They are claiming that heat is not really an issue, in reality the 1DX "should" be hackable and not have the heat issues too. The thing stopping them there is Canons legal team.

I wonder how long it will take before Canon come down on ML for releasing this. It could put a large dent in C100/C300 sales.

Well, if ML is doing a clean room reverse engineer of the camera, that should be perfectly legal. He isn't doing anything that helps 'circumvent' safe guards....like people have come down on gaming mods for. This hack doesn't allow you to circumvent copyrighted material.

One is allowed to do what they wish with hardware they purchase (at least still for now, although the corps are trying more and more to infringe on that)....so, this should be perfectly legal.

However, Canon can still throw legal threats around if they wish, whether they have merit or not. These days, it doesn't matter if you have a legal case or not...it is deep pockets that often win.

However, if Canon were to do this, the "Streisand Effect" might take place, especially if he's released the code open source and other people take the code and join in the efforts. Canon might get more spread and publicity of this type code rather than stiffling it.

But generally, if you're doing a clean room reverse engineer on hardware you bought and own, with no NDA's signed, etc...you should be perfectly legal.

If Canon legal comes knocking on ML's front door, I'd say first thing he might do, is contact the EFF and try to get them on his side with their legal help/advice.